Tag Archives: ITEM

On Friday, Oct. 6th I was so excited to attend my first ITEM conference in Brooklyn Park! I was looking forward to a day of learning, networking with school media and tech educators and hearing from some local authors. I was able to do that and more!

The conference began with a delicious breakfast and a presentation from the author and Macalester professor Duchess Harris. She talked about her personal connection to her book Hidden Human Computers which is about how “dozens of African American women worked for NASA as expert mathematicians from the 1940s to the 1960s and almost no one knows about it.” Her grandmother was Miriam Daniel Mann and “was one of the first black female computers employed by NASA’s predecessor,the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).” Harris discusses this in more detail on this episode of the Historically Black podcast.

Then it was time for some chatting before heading off to our first sessions! I was able to hear from Tea Rozman-Clark, Executive Director of the organization Green Card Voices, and the amazing work they do with young immigrants. We learned about their behind-the-scenes recording processes and got to watch how they conducted a day of interviewing students from a remote location that just happened to be St. Cloud State University!
It was great to see the books that have been created that feature the stories of the students interviewed. You can purchase Green Card Youth Voices St. Paul, Minneapolis, or Fargo editions here.

Then we had to rush quickly off to the next session, one that I was excited about: learning about Creating Future Ready Media Centers!

This presentation from media specialist Amy Carney was definitely inspiring (she’s renovated two media centers in the last three years!) and full of great information that we’re happy to pass along to our members, especially since we know some of you may be working on redesigning or updating your media center! You can download a PDF of her presentation here.

We had some free time before the next round of sessions to check out the vendors, browse the bookstore (so many good choices!), and chat with each other. Then it was time for more learning! I got to hear from Outfront MN as they presented LGBTQ 101. We learned definitions and terms regarding individuals in that community and also ways to make interactions with students or our patrons more inclusive and respectful.

Next, it was time for lunch, entering drawings for books, and watching CMLE Board Member Maria Burnham present awards!

And the fun didn’t stop there! After awards were presented, we got to hear from a bunch of awesome local authors and illlustrators! They all answered some unconventional questions and we got to hear about the books they’ve created.

The afternoon sessions were very interesting as well. I attended a presentation from Dawn Nelson called “When ALL Means ALL: Partnership and Programming for Students with Special Needs.” This can definitely be a challenge for our members and I hoped to get some good resources to share. Dawn talked about her experiences working with students with physical special needs, like making her media center more wheelchair friendly, and also shared her experiences working with students on the autism spectrum. Check out her presentation here for suggestions and useful links!

The final session I attended was a presentation from Maria Burnham, who told us about how she encourages and works to create a culture of reading with both staff and students at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School. She had some great suggestions, like keeping your list of books that you are currently reading visible as an easy conversation starter, or to take part in a school-wide book challenge. Make sure to check out her presentation here!

I had a great time attending ITEM and can’t wait for next year! Hope to see you there! 🙂

During this busy fall season, don’t forget that there are some excellent library conferences approaching! And CMLE has scholarships available to help with some of the cost of attendance! Read more about our scholarships on our page. New this year is the ability to apply for up to $300 worth of scholarships to help cover your expenses!

The Minnesota Library Association has their annual conference coming up on Oct. 5-6th in Rochester. The theme this year is Radical Librarianship which they describe as “the power of libraries to provide access to the truth, strengthen our community voices, create opportunity for exploration and innovation, and assist our patrons to build a better future.” Learn more about the conference and register here.

The Information and Technology Educators of Minnesota (ITEM) also has their fall conference in early October! From October 5-7th in Brooklyn Park learn how to be “Future Ready for the 21st Century!” Keynote speakers at the conference will be Duchess Harris on Friday morning and Kelly Barnhill on Saturday morning. Access the schedule and register here.

Plus, if you make it to either conference you can connect with Mary (who will be at MLA) or Angie (who will be at ITEM) and we would love to see you there! Let us know if you’ll be there and would like to get together!

And don’t be shy – apply for a scholarship! We really do want to assist our members in their continuing education and professional networking, and attending conferences can be a great start! Apply today!

In addition, TIES’ most popular summer PD event is coming in a little over a month from today! The TIES Institute featuring G-Suite for Education is happening at TIES on July 27 and 28! This 2-day institute covers everything you need to know about utilizing new and classic Google apps to enhance your classroom and curriculum. Attendees from last year said it was the best workshop/conference they have ever attended!

“Park Rapids Area Schools and Nevis Public Schools are again hosting two weeks of staff development training this summer – one in June and one in August. I would greatly appreciate it if you could share this with your staff.

We are inviting area school employees and substitute staff to join us in any of these trainings, which are being held in the Park Rapids Century School building and in the Nevis School building (depending on the date). Each two hour class has a $25 registration fee, with the exception of the full day, August 11th session with Kayla Delzer.

Over 50 2-hour classes are available! Most of these classes are related to technology integration, utilizing all types of portable devices and tools. There are also classes for all of the required teacher continuing education areas of reading, mental health, accommodations, ELL and positive behavior strategies.

Please note that the courses for continuing education are for members of Education Minnesota only. Please share this information with others who may be interested.”